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PS Conference: Playstation 3 - The Rest of the Story

In addition to all of the wonderful news concerning release dates and the size of the HDD, Ken Kutaragi dropped a few more tidbits on the status of the Playstation 3:

-The PS3 will be backwards compatible with PS1/PS2 games and will be able to display most of them in high resolution (upscaled to 1080p) as well as utilizing more advanced texture filtering.

-Sony's online network is purported to be free, featuring some contributions from Gamespy Industries. Though Kutaragi was a bit cryptic concerning these matters, it is likely to feature a tiered payment system a la Xbox Live where the basic service will be available at no cost.

-The PS3 will utilize a new form of HDMI called HDMI 1.3 with 48-bit color.

-All software for the machine will come on Blu-Ray discs due to copy protection.

-Sony will be producing at least 1 million PS3 units a month until launch. Just as well, 10 million Blu-Ray discs can be manufactured on a monthly basis, each unit costing about 1000 yen.

-Final price is still not confirmed, but is supposedly "No less than 50000 yen," roughly 425 USD. This could put the US price at around $399-$449.